Body Mass Index, Underweight and Overweight in Children 3 to 5 Years of Age from Skopje/ Индекс На Телесната Тежина, Неисхранетост И Прекумерна Исхранетост Кај Деца На 3–5 Години Од Скопје

The aim of this research is to present body mass index (BMI) data in children 3-5 years of age from Skopje and provide the information on the prevalence of different categories of nutritional status during the early childhood. Material and methods: The study included 420 preschool children (210 boys and 210 girls). Stature and body weight were measured, and the BMI value was calculated. Twelve anthropometric parameters were measured using standard equipment and measurement technique according to the International Biological Programme. Results: The majority of anthropometrical parameters have shown significant age and sex specific differences in favor of male subjects. Values at the 50th percentile in our male subjects aged 3, 4 and 5 years for the weight-for-age index were 19 kg, 19.1 and 21 kg, respectively whereas in the female subjects the corresponding values were 16.8 kg, 20 kg and 21 kg. The height-for-age index values corresponding to the 50th percentile showed slightly higher values in our male subjects (100 cm, 109.5 cm and 116 cm) than those in our female subjects (102 cm, 108.5 cm and 116 cm). The values of 50th percentile of BMI in our males subjects were 18.1 kg/m², 16.2 kg/m² and 16 kg/m² whereas in our females were 16.5 kg/m², 16.7 kg/m² and 16.4 kg/m². Conclusion: These results show that underweight is a health problem of the rising generation in Skopje and needs to be considered along with the problem of overweight. It is recommended that the detected values could be applied for evaluation of deviations in growth and nutritional status in children aged 3-5.

Nutrients efficiency for biomass production of spruce and Beech

The paper assesses the major contribution of Prof Ing Emil Klimo, DrSc, done as part of research into geobiochemical cycle within the International Biological Programme and the Man and Biosphere scheme. It also explain findings of studying beech and spruce ecosystems. It is noted that spruce can make better use of stock of nutrients on the oligotrophic soils to generate biomass compare with beech. As a result, spruce is much more efficient at rather poor sites, even when it grows outside its natural range.

Somatotype of Top-Level Serbian Rhythmic Gymnasts

Body size and build influence performance in many sports, especially in those belonging to the group of female aesthetic sports (rhythmic gymnastics, artistic gymnastics, and figure skating). These sports pose high specific demands upon the functional, energy, motor and psychological capacities of athletes, but also upon the size, body build and composition of the performers, particularly of the top-level female athletes. The study of the top athletes (rhythmic gymnasts, in this case) may provide valuable information on the morphological requirements for achieving success in this sport. Therefore, the main objective of this research was to analyze the somatotype of 40 Serbian top-level rhythmic gymnasts, aged 13.04±2.79, and to form the five age group categories. The anthropometric variables included body height, body mass, the selected diameters, girths and skinfolds, and the Heath-Carter anthropometric somatotype. All of the anthropometric data were collected according to International Biological Programme, and then processed in the Somatotype 1.2. The applied analysis of variance indicated an increase in endomorphic component with age. The obtained results show that the balanced ectomorph is a dominant somatotype, being similar for all of the athletes that took part in the research (3.54-3.24-4.5). These results are in line with the ones obtained in previous studies.

The Shortgrass Steppe: The Region and Research Sites

The central grassland region of North America (Fig. 1.1) is the largest contiguous grassland environment on earth. Prior to European settlement, it was a vast, treeless area characterized by dense head-high grasses in the wet eastern portion, and very short sparse grasses in the dry west. As settlers swept across the area, they replaced native grasslands with croplands, most intensively in the east, and less so in the west (Fig. 1.2). The most drought-prone and least productive areas have survived as native grasslands, and the shortgrass steppe occupies the warmest, driest, least productive locations. James Michener (1974) provided an apt description of the harshness of the shortgrass region in his book Centennial:… It is not a hospitable land, like that farther east in Kansas or back near the Appalachians. It is mean and gravelly and hard to work. It lacks an adequate topsoil for plowing. It is devoid of trees or easy shelter. A family could wander for weeks and never 4 nd enough wood to build a house. (p. 64)… The objective of this chapter is to introduce the shortgrass steppe (Fig. 1.3) and its record of ecological research. First we present an ecological history of the shortgrass steppe since the Tertiary, and provide the geographic and climatic context for the region. Second we describe the major research sites, and the history of the three major entities or programs that have shaped much of the science done in the shortgrass steppe: the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)–Agricultural Research Service (ARS), the International Biological Programme (IBP), and the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Program. Grasses have been an important component of the shortgrass steppe of North America since the Miocene (5–24 million years ago) (Axelrod, 1985; Stebbins, 1981). Before that, during the Paleocene and Eocene (34–65 million years ago), the vegetation was a mixture of temperate and tropical mesophytic forests. Two causes have been proposed as explanations for this ancient change from forest to grassland. First, global temperatures decreased rapidly during the Oligocene (24–34 million years ago), creating conditions for a drier climate. These drier conditions, combined with a renewal of the uplift of the Rocky Mountains that had begun during the Paleocene, left the Great Plains in a rain shadow.

Phillip Sadler Nutman. 10 October 1914 – 4 May 2004

Dr Phillip Nutman was a microbiologist and plant physiologist, distinguished for his research into the infection of roots of legumes by root nodule bacteria of the genus Rhizobium. This is a subject that is truly symbiotic, involving both leguminous host plants and free–living soil bacteria, which join in a complex, often specific interaction to produce symbiotic, nodulated, nitrogen–fixing plants. His research pre–dated the molecular genetics now available to modern researchers and used the techniques of plant physiology and Mendelian genetics to explore the mechanisms of infection, subsequent nodule development and the symbiotic fixation of atmospheric nitrogen. The research took place in the laboratories and fields of Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, where the study of nitrogen fixation by nodulated legumes first developed in the UK (Russell 1966). There were components of related research in Australia, 1953–57 (Bergersen 2001), and also in other countries during the International Biological Programme of 1966–73, in which Nutman was an active participant. He was a well–respected leader in active research during a period in which the subject underwent rapid development. In many ways his work became the basis on which more recent research has developed. He was a modest, self–effacing, scrupulously honest man who became increasingly impatient with the methods of research management that were emerging within the Agriculture and Food Research Council towards the end of his career at Rothamsted. After his retirement, in his Personal Record, he wrote critically about these matters.

Czym jest współczesna ekologia człowieka

Human ecology is a synthetic transdisciplinary science concerned with human life and culture as a dynamic component of ecosystems. Human ecology (HE) synthesizes parts of the knowledge of several classical disciplines in a specific way. The essence of HE is the interaction between humans and the total environment. While the whole idea of HE is originated in anthropology, the first time the term .human ecology" was used in geography and next in sociology. Historically, in its monodisciplinary stage of development, the problems of several classical disciplines related to man and environment were called human ecology. The next stage was the multidisciplinary state, related to IBP (International Biological Programme), presenting a patchwork of information without syntheses. Contemporary HE offers more than a patchwork of knowledge and is based on system theory. In human ecology, human evolution and ontogeny are understood as processes of adaptation and adjustment to the environment. HE may be considered to have two parallel foci: an academic HE as a scientific discipline, and an action-oriented HE (environmental engineering, preservation, education, and health protection against environmental deterioration). In HE several divisions and research perspectives may be defined: 1. Philosophical problems of HE; 2. Social and biological problems of human-environment; 3. Environmental problems of human biology and 4. Cultural adaptive behavior.